Police are investigating what led a West Haverstraw man, who is both deaf and mute, to repeatedly beat a man across the head with a baseball bat.

Police say an argument occurred between the two men after a bout of drinking at the suspect?s apartment on Route 9W Friday night. Police arrested 45-year-old Robert Russell and charged him with second-degree attempted murder. The victim, who has a prosthetic right arm, is not a resident of the apartment complex that houses the elderly and disabled. He is in critical condition at Westchester Medical Center.

Russell is being held at the county jail without bail.